Economics

The purpose of this course is to provide learners with an overview of asset pricing and asset allocation—how economic actors (individuals, organizations) allocate their limited wealth or resources to diversified financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and derivatives, in order to obtain a reasonable cash flow and risk-return characteristics. The course is divided into four parts. The first part covers fundamentals of investment, which focuses on the research object, meaning, process, markets, and instruments of the investment. Part two covers the capital market equilibrium theory and includes the mean-variance theory, capital asset pricing model (CAPM), exponential model and the arbitrage pricing theory (APT), the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), and behavioral finance theory. Part three consists of the analysis and valuation of securities. This section introduces the valuation and analysis of three categories of financial instruments, fixed-income securities, equity securities, and derivative securities. Part four covers fund investment management and performance evaluation. After the valuation of investment instruments, the next procedures are assets allocation according to the risk appetite of different investors, investment funds management, portfolio management, and investment performance evaluation.

This course is for learning theoretical foundations of behavioral economics. In behavioral economics, researchers test assumptions of one’s behavior through surveys and experiments, thus leading to new theories for economic behavior. These research methods and theories will be useful for understanding international differences in economic behavior and outcome such as economic growth and income distributions. This course mainly focuses on behavioral economic research on time preferences and attitudes toward risk. 

Course enrollees are also encouraged to register for the course, International Economy and Behavioral Economics B, at the same time or after completing this course. 

This course introduces the concepts of financial accounting and its underlying assumptions. It studies basic accounting procedures including transaction recording in journals and ledgers and preparation and analysis of financial statements. It covers the principles of double-entry bookkeeping, interpretation of financial statements, issues raised by corporate regulation, and the use of management information for decision making. Topics include accounting and information for decision making; basic financial statements; the accounting cycle, capturing economic events, and reporting financial results; accounting for merchandising activities; financial assets; inventories and cost of goods sold; plant assets and depreciation; liabilities and stockholders' equity; income and changes in retained earnings; statement of cash flows; and financial statement analysis. Text: John J. Wild, Winston Kwok, Ken W. Shaw, and Barbara Chiappetta, PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING. Assessment: attendance and participation, assignments, midterm test, group project, final exam.

This course clarifies a number of key facts on the place and functions of the modern state in a selection of “advanced” or “developed” economies, mostly in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sample. It adopts an approach by main themes of government intervention. It also traces the successive developments of the modern state over the past 200 years in order to highlight the logic of today’s functions and actions and their determinants and objectives. The lectures, along with economic data, weave together major insights from political philosophy, history, and sociology.

This course provides students with an analytical qualitative foundation for developing a business strategy for an organization based on tools within the area of strategic management, and draws on different theories of economic value creation. The course begins by covering central terms, concepts, and definitions in the area of strategy such as the mission, vision, and strategy of an organization, and then looks into different ways in which a strategy can be developed. In connection to this, behavioralism is discussed along with the idea of bounded rationality. This is followed by a discussion on how the environment of a company can be mapped and analyzed and how Porters Five Forces framework builds on the neoclassical theory and the structure of conduct performance paradigm. The course determines competitive advantages and how economic value is created through the internal resources, activities, and competencies of the firm. Furthermore, tools for mapping and analyzing the political and cultural context of the company are presented in connection to principal/agent theory and behavioralistic theory. After this, corporate strategies, business/competitive strategies, international strategies, growth strategies, and strategies on innovation are discussed. The different roles for the patterning company and the size of the corporation are covered drawing on transaction cost theory. When looking at the competitive strategies of the company, the course discusses the importance of long-term commitment and game theory. Furthermore, it is concerned with entrepreneurship, innovation, and internationalization. Finally, it looks at how to evaluate different strategies concerning their suitability, acceptability, and feasibility. The last section of the course looks at how companies can implement their strategies through organizational and management design and manage strategic change. Again, the course returns to the ideas of bounded rationality and the management of stakeholders introduced within behavioral theory.